Our Visit with the Kutschers

We spent a few more days after Thanksgiving with my cousin's family in Springfield.  Black Friday was spent   by eating a leisurely pancake breakfast, shopping at a respectable hour, getting a first haircut down in the record books, and playing reindeer games in our reindeer jammies.  The women folk all loaded up in Megan's Yukon to shop on Friday afternoon, and while we were a bit worried about having enough space for big purchases, it didn't end up being a problem.  A half-off cake pan at JoAnn's was probably our best score of the day.

Post-shopping reindeer games with Aunt Conni on the couch!

After shopping and eating Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch, we decided it was time to dive into this first haircut business.  He probably didn't really need it, but I wanted Conni to do the honors so we went ahead and trimmed up a few curls.  We made the hair a little less party in the back and stepped away from that line in the sand that is the difference between cute toddler curls and a mullet.  I think most of the cousins on my mom's side of the family had their first hair cut from Aunt Conni, and now Jack is on that list as well!  

He did well!  It was a quick, no-tears, pretty calm event.  I can only hope he always does that well.  If teethbrushing is any indication, things could still turn on us.  :)  

The fun continued on Friday evening with a trip to Springfield's ginormous sporting goods store, Scheels.  Inside the store is a ferris wheel, enormous fish tank above the registers (really, it's enormous - there was a diver inside cleaning it while we were there), and lots of interactive games upstairs.  It was very cool and Jack had a blast running up and down the aisles and inside the bowling alley while Grant and Landon waited for their game to start.  

Love this picture - Bay and Landon riding the ferris wheel and the rest of us looking on from below.  I think we were hoping the ride would stop soon because it was time to go home and eat Megan's deeelicious White Chicken Chili.  

But first, a quick pose on the bear lap outside the store.  Cousins!  Love these three little boys to pieces!

Friday night was also the evening to break out the matching reindeer jammies for those sweet boys.  We had high hopes of getting a picture of them together in front of the tree - a real framer, we hoped.  

We worked...

and worked....

and worked....

and worked at it....

until finally Aunt Lori saved the day and snapped this one with her iPhone if you can believe it.  

I think some of the outtakes are pretty good, too.  I know I'm biased, but man these are some cute kids.

Mom, Dad, and Rob headed home on Saturday morning and Lori and Bay had to leave that afternoon.  We spent another night with the Kutschers and got in some more cousin playing time, Brent got to try a famous D'Arcy's Pint horseshoe (which he says is one of the best things he's ever eaten), and we watched our first 2012 Christmas season viewing of our favorite cult classic, Christmas Vacation.

We left town on Sunday, but before we did we all went to the Festival of Trees at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.  I had been there before (on the evening of the infamous cancelled Lady A concert), but failed to recognize how beautiful the grounds were and how nice the buildings are.  That is probably because of the suspected (by us) tornado rolling in that evening - no time to admire the grounds, just look for places to take cover and save our lives.  

Anyway, we took a mosey through the many decorated trees and rode on the train before parting ways with our very hospitable and very wonderful cousins.  Thank you so much for a great visit, Megan and Chad!  We hope to return the favor sometime soon!  

Please, no paparazzi.  

Thanksgiving Day 2012!

We spent Thanksgiving weekend with my cousin's family in Springfield, IL this year and my mom's side of the family all gathered at her house.  It was a change-up from our normal plans but definitely nice for us, the traveling band of gypsies.  We were able to fly into St. Louis, which is a shorter flight, and our drive to the final destination was much shorter as well.  I know you don't care about these boring details - but if you were the one wrasslin' Jack on the plane, you'd care.

And without further ado, here is the explosion of pictures from Thanksgiving Day:

MaMa and Bay, looking so gorgeous!  

Rob digging into the traditional Cheese Pile

Kissing Grandpa's scratchy face!

There's a shot of the shirt.  When you are a crazy mom and have a shirt made especially for one holiday, you will work at it a bit to get a respectable picture of it.  

Uncle Jeff, Grant, and MaMa

Digging for the best pieces of puppy chow

Turkey shirt didn't last long - it's jammie time for this little traveler!

The traditional camera shot with Michael's camera - not too shabby!  We're missing two full families in this shot, plus some of Lori's.  Maybe next year!  

Cousins on the couch.  

Little Turkey

Running around in the yard is so.funny!  

Jack Facts - 13 months

I really couldn't decide if I was going to keep up the monthly posts after his first birthday, but I've decided to at least write down some of the quirky, fun things he's doing each month.  I am admittedly happy that my set of onesie stickers stopped at 12 months, because trying to get that photo shoot done around the 5th of every month was sometimes a pain.  I know, that's no fun.  Sorry.

Teeth: still just 5 - 3 on top, 2 on bottom

Favorite foods: macaroni and cheese, any pasta, pancakes, bananas, broccoli, raspberries, Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup with tortellini, goldfish crackers, graham crackers, hot dogs.  I could go on - the boy loves to eat.

Loves: Music, wrestling with Bonnie, carrying around Blue Dog and Scout up by his neck, his Elmo Singing with the Stars dvd, sitting in the recliner before bed, CELL PHONES (ugh), remote controls, opening up cabinets and drawers, being chased!

Words: Mom (ma), Dad (da), bath (ba), and Bonnie (another ba).  A lot of things are 'ba'.  He also sings with us.

Eventful happenings this month: made a call into Poison Control after I found him eating a dishwasher detergent capsule.  He was fine, but the "Call Poison Control Immediately" message on the back of the box made me call.  That's really a little bit dramatic, I think (I'm sniffing legality issues).  Romping around with cousins Landon and Grant for three days over Thanksgiving.

October! Where did you go?

Since I'm late on posting most of our fall pictures, and a photo of Jack in his Halloween costume hasn't graced any form of social media yet, I think it's best at this point to just do a whole recap of our October happenings.  Hey, I'm not as late as I normally am!

Early October - hanging out in the 'Ville:

Groovin with Uncle Rob with some iPad tunes and praying his parents pick up on the fact that he's TIRED and wants a NAP!

Helping Grandpa Bob with the yard work.

Relaxing in his big birthday gift from us later in the month:

I quickly realized we've just given him one more way to hurt himself.  He didn't really need another.

We headed to the Littleton Museum's Fall Festival one Saturday in October with our friend Nikki.  The mission was to grab a few pumpkins, drink some hot cider, and snap a few pics.  As soon as we got there it started pouring down rain, and I had forgotten Jack's hat, so we didn't even get out of the car.  The next day we went to a "pumpkin patch" - a.k.a. a nursery that had a few pumpkins.  

Ugh - another pumpkin patch?!?  Give me a break!  

I'll carry this one to the car for you, Mom.

We went out to eat with our friends and their big family the Sunday before Halloween, then went back to their mom's house to carve pumpkins and run through her house like a lunatic (just one of us did that - I know, I can't take Brent anywhere!).

A Jack and Emily love fest at Dino's.

A pants-less Jack visiting with the contained Jack.

This look just says it all.  Sweaty hair, messy face, and no pants.  It was a very fun evening for Jack!

And the Main Event - Trick or Treat on Wednesday the 31st!

Like any good, working mom would do, I frantically swung through the McDonald's drive-thru after working more than an hour late and cutting the start of ToT pretty close.  This is Jack's first Happy Meal, and yeah, he was a fan.

The high was in the 70s that day - so yeah, the appropriately dressed Stevenson male in this picture is Brent.

I'm glad we got a few good pictures of our active monkey, because most of them are like this:

And this:

After ToTing just three houses in our cul-de-sac, we headed back inside to pass out candy.  Jack really liked that the most, probably.  And so did Bonnie.  She escaped three times, and was fairly hard to find the last time since she'd gone into a neighbor's house and all.  We got her back unfortunately thank goodness.  The woman down the street said she ran in and made herself right at home.  Westies.  Sheesh.  

One Year Stats

Dad took you to the doctor last week for a weight check and four shots while Mom worked.  Kudos to Dad for entertaining you for an hour...he's a keeper, that man.  You ran a slight temp for the next couple of days but seemed to react better to the vaccinations than you normally do.  Yay!

Here are the stats for the record books:

Weight: 24.3 pounds - 69th percentile
Height: 30.5 inches - 69th percentile
Head: 18 7/8 inches - 88th percentile

Dad was bursting with pride when Dr. DiMaria watched you run around the office and said you are on your way to being an athlete!  (But if you prefer music, that's good too.)